Marooned
by Jessica Padkin
Summary: A poorly conducted air battle between the Tornado and Robotnik's fancy new flagship leaves a group of enemies in a very uncomfortable position indeed. But just who is holding all the cards here?
1. I am the Eggs-Offender!

My first (ish) fanfic, a semi light-hearted Castaway type thingy! Okay, originally I just wanted to have fun with the characters, but I then developed a nice little mystery to the plot. I hope the conclusion isn't too obvious, and that the plot reads well enough. Rather frighteningly, I actually put a lot of thought into the storyline to this

This fic is greatly inspired by the UK Sonic books I've read, so the basic background follows the 'Kintobor' storyline. The personalities of the characters are just the same as the 'SegaSonic' personalities, or they should be-- it depends on my writing skills! This is sort of based on the Martin Adams Sonic novels published by Virgin, because I thought they were bleedin' ace. And because I like Eggor. Sorry, I _had_ to have him in it

Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters and settings are copyright Sega Corporation. None of it belongs to me, but all property is theft, man. Whatever that means. 

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Chapter One - I am the Eggs-Offender!

The grey skies were plastered with shining white clouds. It had been dull and rainy all afternoon, but thankfully now the sun had begun to break through. Tails glanced up, shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight.

"Can you see it, Sonic?" he called out from the pilot's seat in the Tornado.

"No!" came the hedgehog's reply from the bi-plane's wing, "I don't understand where it could have gone!"

The tiny plane sped up and lowered its altitude, as Tails was afraid they would be an easy target higher up. Well, easi_er_ target. The fox's grip tightened on the controls, one hand poised to fire the lasers on his target when it showed itself again. Above him, Sonic growled out in annoyance. The ship was right there, how could it have disappeared so fast?

Suddenly the clouds behind them parted, cleaved by a large black object. Like an ominous dark stream roller, the ship tore through the brilliant white clouds, creating a thunderous noise as it moved. 

"It's behind us!" Tails shouted above the booming of the black ship's engines, "how fast can that thing go?"

Sonic didn't respond, he just glanced back at the monstrous black airship. A loud crackle was audible for a second, before a voice boomed out from the collection of powerul speakers affixed to the vehicle.

"Don't delay the -hahaha!- inevitable, Sonic! You haven't a chance against my beautiful flagship, the _Eggs-Box_!" Dr. Robotnik said gleefully. The _Eggs-Box_ was a strange-looking ship. Although it was futuristic in design, it also had a simple and impractical feel to it, like a machine in an old sci-fi movie. The frame was cubic, and didn't look at all streamlined. This was partly why Sonic had underestimated it before, and decided to attack in the Tornado. Decorating the upper side of the ship was a large, ugly, glowing green X symbol, which no doubt had had a purpose in the early stages of development, but now served only to further worsen the appearance of the otherwise merely repulsive flagship.

"He's probably right Sonic," Tails said, "We could never beat that thing in this plane, but maybe if we can get close enough to it--"

Tails was cut off when a stream of offensive green laser roared past, narrowly avoiding one of the plane's wings. Gasping sharply, the fox reapplied his grip on the steering apparatus.

"--We might be able to board it." He finished. "I mean, he can't have any particularly tough robots on board, can he?"

"You reckon we can get in close? How? I mean, without getting shot down." 

"Hang on tight, Sonic." Tails replied grimly.

Dr. Robotnik grinned broadly and ran his fingers over the row of buttons and controls in front of him. The rotund madman was standing in the bridge of his marvellous vessel, surrounded by monitors displaying various maps of the craft, fuel gauges, speedometers and the like. Directly in front of him was a huge darkened window with flickering green crosshairs tracking the Tornado's every swoop and dive. There was a large black chair behind him, but he just couldn't sit still right now; he was too excited.

"Hahaha- Sonic is about to be destroyed at last! Oh, how I wish this eggsquisite moment could last forever!" 

"We have a lock on the ship, Master," came the smooth deep voice of Robotnik's mechanic assistant, Eggor. "Shall I fire now?"

"Fire, fire, FIRE! Hahaha!" Dr. Robotnik bounced up and down happily. His flagship had taken an awful lot of time and effort to design and build-- how wonderful that it was paying off! Once Sonic and Tails were out of the way, he would rule the world. It just wasn't enough that he had seized and secured so much of Mobius's wealth, land and industry, he wanted the _whole world. _It's what he deserved!

Eggor fired the Egg Missiles, his visual receptors intently focussed on the radar screen in front of him. By his calculations, the missiles should collide with the biplane in 6 seconds from launch. He thought briefly about what his Master would actually do once his opposition was defeated. The times he seemed happiest were the times when he was fighting Sonic head-on, like now, and that seemed to also be when he was most dependent on --and grateful for-- Eggor too. Perhaps it would be the end of an era for both of them.

"6 seconds until the missiles hit, Master," he reported.

"Now keep down low, Sonic, I'm going to do something a bit dangerous." Tails said seriously, almost emotionlessly. "You have to trust me." 

Before Sonic got a chance to find out more, Tails threw his right arm forward, slamming the control lever around and forcing the biplane to turn sharply. Both he and Sonic were thrown about from the sudden movement, but Miles managed to keep a stunning command over the vehicle, pushing the joystick down. The centripetal force of the sharp turn almost threw the small plane totally out of control, but Tails's manoeuvre had set the Tornado back in a straight line-- heading directly for the Eggs-Box!

Eggor watched the pitiful aircraft in sheer amazement. What were they trying to do? Surely by heading straight towards the flagship, they were only making the time until their demise much shorter...

Unless, he realised, they thought they could avoid the missiles this way. The robot smiled just a little-- Dr. Robotnik's technology had been greatly underestimated.

"Tails! There's a missile heading for us!" Sonic screamed, grasping onto the wing of the Tornado. The fox didn't reply, just jerked the controls again, forcing the plane to veer upwards. The biplane continued moving forwards, tilted up and baring its underside to the missiles. The first one hit the nose of the plane, exploding on impact. The two propellers on Tails's biplane were blown out of shape, and bent backwards from the force of the blast. The second missile slammed arrogantly into the underside, providing the force needed to swing the biplane around and leave it flying upright again. Unfortunately, it didn't look like this plane was going to be flying for much longer.

"Tails, you idiot!" Sonic shouted against the screaming engines, "why'd you steer into the missiles?"

Tails unbuckled himself from his seat and grabbed a hold of the wing above his head. "Shut up, Sonic," he replied in frustration, "just hold on tight, and listen carefully"

Dr. Robotnik held his hands over his mouth in gleeful astonishment and watched as the Tornado broke into two and fell from the sky. The wing of the plane had been separated from the main vehicle and smashed harmlessly into the thick metal side of the _Eggs-Box_. The bridge of the ship fell quiet for a second as Dr. Ivo Robotnik let his final victory sink in. 

"Eh-Eggor! Look, I did it!" Dr Robotnik cried, dancing around the bridge. "Suh-Sonic was defeated! Oh, this is a brilliant day! This is uneggsplainable joy! Hahaha!" The mad scientist wobbled around the bridge looking for a bottle of champagne. The best he could find was a bottle of mineral water, which he splashed around happily. "W-We need to get word out to the citizens of Mobius! They must know that I, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, am their new ruler! They must know that, that Sonic -hahaha!- Sonic the hedgehog has been annihilated! Obliterated! He's gone, at last!" Eggor watched his Master bounce around the room. Although it no way near equalled the intense emotion Robotnik was experiencing right now, the robot couldn't help but share a small measure of his satisfaction. 

The proud black flagship cruised through the air triumphantly; the sound of Dr. Robotnik's fevered expressions of rapture ringing throughout its chambers and corridors. The only thing ruining this image of the Ultimate Victory, the end of a long and frustrating battle, was the small ring of fire that was accumulating around the engines at the rear of the ship. 


	2. Ranting and Raving (But Not in That Orde...

C2

Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters and settings are copyright Sega Corporation. None of it belongs to me, but all property is theft, man. Whatever that means.

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Chapter Two - Ranting and Raving (But Not in That Order)

The huge high school bully of an airship tore triumphantly through the skies, as if already spreading the news of its master's defeat over all things small, blue and spiky.

Then, a small, blue, spiky thing climbed up onto the top of the ship.

"Tails," it started, out of breath and almost completely drained, "I don't know what you did, but it was incredible! How did you know we'd be able to get close to this thing after we'd been hit?" 

"I didn't, really…" Tails panted, hoisting himself up onto the upper side of the _Eggs-Box. _"I just thought we were going to get hit by the missiles anyway, better to try and get close enough as we could."

"Well it was great, dude! Pity about the Tornado though." Sonic glanced over the side just in time to see his biplane disappear into the clouds.

"Nah, the old thing needed remodelling. Now, how about we go find Dr. Robotnik? He might think we're dead-- imagine the distress he'd be in!" Tails grinned.

"Yeah, I know!" Sonic said, "we'd better go and show him that his two favourite people are doing just fine. After you!"

Sonic pointed to a door that presumably led into the interior of the ship. Tails flew over to it and grasped the handle in one paw, flicking the lock out of place with the other. As soon as the door had rolled open, Tails leapt inside, followed by Sonic. Together they began traipsing through the dark, clean corridors, deeper into the bowels of the magnificent vessel.

At the bridge, meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik was rather excited.

"Yes, yes, yes! Finally, I have DESTROYED him! This feels amazing! And the times I have dreamed about this… I never even then imagined my victory would be so WONDEFUL!" the lunatic danced around the bridge in delight. It had been a good 5 minutes after the supposed death of his archenemies, but he was still getting more worked up by the second. This was Robotnik's dream, his ultimate ambition, and experiencing it coming true… it felt every bit as unreal as his fantasies. He kept thinking that in a moment he would wake up and be right back where he started again, but it didn't happen. For once, something had actually gone right!

"Master…" Eggor interjected during his master's deranged screams.

"Those stupid creatures. Now they know why I AM THE BEST!"

"Master…"

"And if anyone -hahaha!- if anyone dares to call me MAD again, they shall be _eggsterminated_!" Robotnik spun around with his arms flailing out. He looked like a hyperactive child who had been drinking too much caffeine. 

Eggor really didn't want to spoil the doctor's tremendous good mood, but he was quite sure Robotnik needed to know what was going on at the back of the ship. He gathered all his strength and tried again:

"Mas-"

"As for those Chaos Emeralds-" Robotnik started. 

__

Well, Eggor thought, _I didn't even manage to get one word in this time._

"-For all I care, they can be destroyed! I don't need emeralds or flagships anymore! Now I can rule the world as I please with NO RESISTANCE!"

The hedgehog and fox ran through the lonely halls of the flying machine, getting ever closer to the celebrating scientist. They were the resistance. The Double Threat. Both of them were wearing huge, beaming grins.

"Look at the map!" Sonic said, skidding to a halt in front of a huge transparent perspex sign with the layout of the ship displayed in a large diagram drawn in simple coloured lines. "Bridge, thataway! That's where a ship is controlled from, right?"

"Yeah, I think so." Tails replied.

"Then that's where the fat controller will be!" Sonic sang. They bolted in the direction of what the map promised to be the entrance to the bridge. They were greeted by a few forks and junctions in the sprawling corridors, but thankfully the route to the control centre was conveniently sign posted all the way. Eventually they met a pair of thick iron doors, held shut with a huge metal lock. Sonic attempted to unbolt the doors, but in the end it appeared the best way to get through would be to smash them open.

Eggor regarded the monitors on the bridge worriedly and reached out for his Master's arm. It was terribly rude of him to poke Dr. Robotnik like this, but he had tried everything else and it seemed like the only way he could get his attention.

"Master, _please_…" Eggor pleaded, prodding Robotnik's upper arm with a metal digit. The scientist finally stopped whooping and looked at Eggor with a puzzled expression on his face.

"What?"

"Look, I'm afraid there's-"

The robot was interrupted again, this time by a crash at the end of the room where two massive metal doors had just swung open and clanked against the frame. In the large doorway stood two very happy looking animals, posing triumphantly. Deep inside, Sonic felt he would get an odd kind of sadistic satisfaction from seeing Robotnik's response.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" the deranged genius laughed, "you're just in time, wretched hedgehog, to witness my domination of this pathetic world! For I have just defeated--" He stopped abruptly as reality caught up to him and bashed him over the head with the horrible, horrible truth. Completely frozen, his mouth hung open and his quivering hand pointed at Sonic in sheer, unrestrained horror. Sonic smiled back brightly, gazing at Eggman with mock admiration.

"Are we invited to your victory party, then?" Sonic breezed, leaning backwards against the door frame. Tails snorted slightly; he was finding it hard to breathe in the thick air of smugness surrounding the hedgehog.

"How… _how_?" Robotnik managed to force out. His eyes briefly rolled across, allowing his gaze to meet Tails, and then returned to Sonic. After a few seconds, the colour began to return to Robotnik's face, and Tails spotted something occuring further down the corridor.

"I don't know how you managed it," Dr. Robotnik started, pointing his finger at the smirking hedgehog and lowering his voice to a barely controlled snarling whisper, "but you will _not_ get away with this. Mark my words, I will--" He stopped as Tails grabbed Sonic's arm harshly, a frightened look on his face.

After Sonic had got a glance at what was frightening Tails, the pair took off down the corridor. Dr Robotnik, confused and extremely annoyed, threw himself around the doorframe and started hurling threats at them. Eggor, who had been in a stunned silence during all of this, reached out and harshly grabbed Robotnik's arm in desperation. The scientist turned around quickly, a furious expression on his face.

"What on Mobius is your problem, you stupid robot?! WHY do you keep interrupting me?!" 

"Master, it's just that, look…" Eggor pointed down the corridor at the large fire that had gathered at the far side. Dr. Robotnik fell back into the bridge and leaned against the wall, gasping deeply.

"Well don't just stand there!" he wheezed, "Put it out!"

"I'm afraid I cannot, Master." Eggor in an irritatingly calm voice, "the heat sensor map shows that there are fires throughout the whole back end of the ship. We'll have to abandon it."

"The back end? So that's where it started-- where Sonic and Tails came in! That accursed hedgehog started the fire!" Robotnik's enormous stomach bounced revoltingly as he jumped up and down in a raging frenzy.

Eggor shook his head, "Several minutes ago I found out that the third cargo bay door was left open, and some debris from the hedgehog's airplane ignited the contents. Then an explosion occurred--"

"You found this out _several minutes ago_, did you?" Robotnik screamed.

"Yes, Master." Eggor replied flatly.

"_Then why didn't you tell me_?" 


	3. Women and Hyper-Intelligent Eggmen First...

C3

Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters and settings are copyright Sega Corporation. None of it belongs to me, but all property is theft, man. Whatever that means.

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Chapter Three - Women and Hyper-Intelligent Eggmen First!

"We have to stay near the bridge!" Tails shouted to his hedgehog friend, who was getting further away from him by the second. "It makes sense he'd have his escape system in this area, wouldn't it?"

Sonic said nothing, and skidded around a corner to perform another circuit of the corridors around the bridge. Tails was right; the escape pods had to be around here somewhere. Feet pounding furiously on the floor, he tore through the dying ship, fuelled by his desire to escape this deathtrap. In his desperation, he was forgetting that Tails couldn't run -- or fly -- as fast as he could. They were getting separated!

"Sonic, wait for me!" Miles wailed. He could hear the cold dark metal beneath his feet creak horribly. It sounded like a person moaning in agony, and it was getting louder. The fox flew higher and dreaded to think what could be causing such a noise on the lower floor. 

He stopped abruptly as soon as he realised what it could be, the floor ahead of him glowing an ominous red. Just as he turned to retreat, flame shot up from the lower decks, tearing through the metal and causing the whole ship to shake. The force of the explosion threw Tails out of flight and he was thrust backwards, landing on his back on the cold floor. 

Steadying himself, he headed right back for the entrance to the bridge. It would be difficult, he was only a young boy, but he would have to confront Eggman, and _order_ him to allow the pair to use the eggscape mechanism. Tails was certainly not threatening by nature, but he could take on Robotnik or Eggor any day. Besides, he couldn't follow Sonic now. The only way to find him would be to get Robotnik to determine his location on his heat-sensor thing.

Unless Sonic had already been claimed by the explosion. 

No, it can't have happened! Tails screwed up his furry little face and headed back in the direction he'd come from.

Sonic too had felt the power of the explosion on the lower floor; it had almost made him lose his footing. Where Tails had got to was a mystery, but he was certain the fox must have taken a different route. Eyes peeled for either Tails or an escape capsule, Sonic took off down a long passage, spotting at the end what was probably both!

"TAILS!" he screamed at the escape pod. He couldn't understand why the door was closing, but guessed that maybe Tails thought he'd died in the explosion. Sonic sprang towards the capsule, arms outstretched, trying to grab the door before it shut. The door was hinged at the top, so it was fairly easy for Sonic to grip hold of the bottom and try to force it open.

At that moment, there was a strange suction noise. It was like the sound you get when you run a vacuum cleaner over a large flat object and it is sucked in by the pressure, or when you open a particularly stubborn pickle jar. The escape capsule suddenly detached from the ship, with the unfortunate hedgehog still gripping the base of the door!

"Yaaarrgghhh!" he yelled, finally summoning enough strength to throw open the shutter. Feet lodged in a crack in the ground, he managed to hold the pod to the flagship. But the wind from outside was incredibly strong -- probably because the ship was plummeting -- and he had trouble keeping a hold. Plus, he could never jump into the capsule now, with the gale forcing him back. Eyes clamped shut, he held tight and tried in vain to pull the pod closer towards him.

Then, it happened. The fire had spread to the primary fuel tanks, and the resultant explosion span the ship right around. The noise was unbearable-- it was as if the entire ship was screaming, not as one but as a collection of components. Every metal wall, engine and computer clanked, screeched or buzzed as the ship turned quickly. 

Despite the disorientation, Sonic managed to leap into the pod during the brief moment when it was positioned directly below the ship. The door slammed shut behind him, held with a strong vacuum, and the force threw Sonic into the capsule quite hard. Thankfully, though, he landed on something large and very soft.

"That was close," Sonic gasped. "Tails? Are you okay?" He finally opened his eyes and peered at the face just a few inches away from his own.

"What are talking about, you stupid animal?!" the large, soft thing replied.

Tails ran onto a raised platform overlooking the bridge. He was having a hard time keeping a hold, what with the ship's spinning, but he quickly found a rail to hang onto.

"Robotnik! Find Sonic and help get us both out of here-- or else!" Tails yelled triumphantly. He sounded tough. Unfortunately though, only Eggor was present now and he didn't look at all intimidated by Tails's threat.

The ship tilted further, until the floor of the bridge was completely vertical. Eggor was fastened tightly in his seat, but Tails had to take flight and lower himself down to the robot's level.

"Where's Robotnik?" he demanded. "And where's Sonic?"

Eggor pointed to a screen in front of him that was displaying a complicated map of sorts; "he's on the escape capsule," he turned to Tails, "I think they both are."

Tails peered at the screen in disbelief. There were indeed two lifeforms in the capsule, and they were undoubtedly Sonic and Dr. Robotnik. The fox's first instinct told him that Sonic must have turned coward and left with Robotnik, even if it meant leaving Tails here to drown. He quickly denounced this theory in his own head, though. Sonic would _never_ do that.

Eggor was facing a conundrum. His last orders had been to make sure Sonic and Tails, or at least one of them, went down with the ship. But now, his master was trapped with Sonic, and in possible danger. Should he sacrifice himself in order to get rid of a minor threat, or should he save himself -- and Tails -- so that he can find his master and rescue him from Sonic? It was a difficult decision to make.

Yeah, right.

"I'm going to separate this section of the ship from the rest." Eggor said calmly. "There should be enough power to get us to land." Tails lowered himself into a huge chair -- probably Robotnik's, considering its size- and buckled himself in.

"Fine," Tails said, "but we're only allies until I've found Sonic, okay?"

Eggor hadn't mentioned anything about allying with the fox, but he silently agreed. After checking to see that Tails was strapped in, he pulled a lever.

There was a series of ghastly clicking noises surrounding the bridge as thousands upon thousands of tough bolts slid out of place. Tails's eyes darted from one window to the next, watching as each section of the ship broke off and slipped downwards. A piercing screech filled the room as Eggor started the ship moving forwards, and the metal walls of the bridge scraped across the detached exteriors of the ship. The racket was deafening, but the process was a real sight to behold.

Eventually nine tenths of the entire ship had broken off, leaving the bridge, which rolled upright and continued innocently through the air.

Tails watched the various extremities drift down to Mobius's waters, vanishing as they sliced through the thick layer of cloud below them.

"That was incredible!" he gasped, "but is there anywhere for us to land around here?"

"I see a cluster of islands north of here. We can make it there in time, easily." The robot replied.

The tiny semi-ship cruised very slowly through the wide blue skies, making its way toward the islands.

Sonic grabbed Robotnik's collar and demanded to know where Tails was. He didn't, of course, actually expect him to know, but he thought that if he appeared threatening to Eggman, he wouldn't have his mistake pointed out to him.

"Listen up, you, my friend had better be okay, or there's going to be trouble!" Sonic paused and then said in a much more fearful tone; "he _will _be okay, won't he?"

"See for yourself." Robotnik replied quietly, pointing out of the window at the small bridge, which was coming close to land. Tails must have destroyed or overpowered Eggor, he thought. It didn't occur to him that the robot might actually have teamed up with the fox.

"Ah!" Sonic exclaimed, "we have to land on that island! How do you steer this thing?" Sonic felt around the walls for some controls, but Eggman knocked his hand away irritably. 

"There are none! Now stop that before you touch something important!" Robotnik had more than one reason to be angry with Sonic. Not only was he trying to hijack the capsule now, he had also somehow managed to escape death twice in one day! Robotnik wasn't used to this kind of emotional strain.

"No controls? Then how are we going to get to the island?"

"The capsule is programmed to land in the sea, then propel itself toward the nearest area of dry land it can detect." He pointed against the window at a larger area of land quite some distance away from the one Tails and Eggor were about to land on.

"But that's absolutely miles away from where Tails will be!" Sonic wailed unhappily as the capsule dropped into the sea with an undignified PLOP. Eggman just sat back with his arms crossed, looking upset and aggravated. 

"You should have thought about that before you leapt in here, shouldn't you? The capsule might not even make it to land with the… added weight."

"Added weight? You're the one with the weight probl-" Sonic was cut short by the loud buzzing of the capsule's propellors at the rear. The noise wasn't exactly unpleasant, but it would certainly prevent any further conversation between the two enemies. They just sat there, as far apart as they could get in the cramped capsule, staring at each other with a look of sheer hatred. The tension was unbearable.

"I'm going to try to land us on the beach," Eggor murmured to Tails, who was pressed against a window staring at the back of the ship. "Then we'll have a soft landing, and the ship won't get too damaged."

"What's left of it!" Tails added excitedly. Although he had lost sight of the escape capsule as it had fell into the sea, Eggor had assured him that it was programmed to take its passengers to land. Tails --although he wasn't sure if he should-- found the idea of Sonic and Robotnik being stranded together rather amusing. He wished there was a way he could have it filmed.

"The fuel tanks will burst when we hit the sand. However, it's the wrong sort of fuel to fly this bridge anyway," Eggor said quietly. Tails swung around to face him, a shocked look on his face.

"And spill into the sea?" the fox shouted, "we can't do that! Land in the forest, then maybe the fuels tanks won't get hit."

"I told you, the fuel is useless to us now." Eggor replied testily, "the ship can be used again, so long as it doesn't get damaged."

"Look, it's not worth trying to explain it to one of Robotnik's machines, but we just can't let the fuel leak. Okay? Land in the forest, or I'll take the controls and do it myself."

Eggor just did as the fox said. His programming was telling him to land the ship where he had originally planned, but another part of him knew that Tails was right, for whatever reason. Perhaps it was the animal that was literally trapped inside Eggor's shell, the squirrel called Kevin who had once helped Sonic and Tails defeat Robotnik after being rescued from Eggor's old form, that was telling the robot to go with Miles's plan. He would usually allow his programming to take precedence over his instincts, but without Dr. Robotnik around he thought he might as well go along with Tails.

The ship dipped gently into the trees. The landing was a lot easier than Eggor had imagined, but he could still hear the smashing of windows and the chugging of fans as they became blocked with leaves and twigs. Tails was looking out of the window, eyeing the fuel tanks. Eventually, the vessel came to a stop, held firmly upwards by the strong trees. Eggor clanked over to a small door in the floor and threw it open, revealing a shaft leading downwards out of the bottom of the ship.

"We'd better have a look around and see if we can get to where Sonic and my Master are." Eggor said awkwardly, motioning for Tails to go down the shaft. The fox hopped out and flew gently down to the ground, landing on a rough blanket of dead twigs. He didn't think much of this island. The desert island movies he'd seen had always portrayed the islands as tranquil paradises, decorated with lush green plants and palm trees. This just looked like the same grotty old deciduous woodland you see on the mainland. 

Tails shielded his eyes from the blinding sunlight and peered upwards. Amongst the blurred leaves dancing in the light wind he could see the solid outline of the battered ship, and just about make out Eggor's form stumbling down a rope ladder he had tossed out of the door. He stood back as the robot landed clumsily beside him.

"This place isn't very nice at all," Tails muttered, "there's a funny smell-- I don't like it."

Eggor didn't reply. None of Robotnik's machines had odour detectors, partly because such a thing would be utterly pointless and partly because it would mean the unfortunate death of Dr. Robotnik's very clever 'My robot's got no Odour Detector. How does it smell?' jokes.

"Well, let's see what we can do with this place," Tails sighed sadly. He thought of Sonic, who had doubted Tails's piloting abilities earlier and acted so selfishly many times in the past. Then he thought of Sonic trapped on a small island with only his hated archenemy for company.

Tails's despairing frown dissolved and was replaced by a wicked, cruel grin.


	4. The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Against ...

C4

Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters and settings are copyright Sega Corporation. None of it belongs to me, but all property is theft, man. Whatever that means. Spot the STC references!

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Chapter Four - The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Against all Odds.

Sonic rummaged through the large metal box of 'emergency supplies' dubiously. This was a collection of the vital items Dr. Robotnik had managed to pack into the escape capsule, but Sonic couldn't see that any of it would be useful to anyone in a survival situation. Amongst the junk he found was a rubber ball made of elastic bands wrapped around each other, a book entitled _Stress Control Through Self-Hypnosis_, a bag of chocolate mis-shapes that were so mis-shapen they actually seemed to defy the very fabric of space, half a jar of Scalp Polish, a diary (which, to Sonic's disappointment, was empty), a Mr Cuddle Bunny colouring book with a packet of crayons, and a rather worn-out corset.

"You're a weird guy, you know that?" Sonic remarked. 

Robotnik angrily snatched the metal box away from the hedgehog. "Get out of my things!" he wailed, "all of this is mine, and I have absolutely no intention of sharing it with you, nor any obligation to do so!"

"Calm down, none of this rubbish is any use in this kind of situation anyway."

"That's where you're wrong," Robotnik said, straightening up and standing over the crouched hedgehog. He plunged his hand into the box and brought out a small book, "_The_ _Ultimate Guide to Surviving Against all Odds_! This book tells you the best thing to do in any situation." 

"We're saved." Sonic deadpanned.

"No, Sonic, _I'm_ saved," Robotnik replied, clearly not sensing the sarcasm in Sonic's statement. "You have nothing here, just jump in the water and swim over to the island where your little furry friend is."

"I can't swim!"

"Even better." Robotnik said darkly.

Sonic bristled. "You're lucky I'm such a kind and caring soul," he said, "and that I'm prepared to stick around and protect you, even though you're a complete jerk." Sonic had said this without thinking, and hearing the words made him wonder exactly why had automatically decided to help Eggman. The villain had only just tried to kill Sonic and Tails! 

Dr. Robotnik didn't respond; he was doing something to the escape capsule. He flipped a small keypad down from the side of the pod and pressed a few buttons with his gloved finger. Slowly, the walls of the capsule grinded outwards and a metal canopy slid over the front, transforming the machine into a rather impressive-looking steel tent. 

"A complete jerk with some shelter!" Robotnik shouted childishly, "Enjoy yourself Sonic! I -hahaha!- I hope it rains!" And with that, the scientist disappeared inside his capsule to read the Survival Guide- Part Seven, Dealing with Unwanted Rodents.

Sonic shook his head in exasperation. _Well,_ he thought, _might as well be adult about this._

The hedgehog sat down on the floor with a wide grin on his face and started hurling stones at the capsule.

"Look Eggor!" Tails exclaimed excitedly, "I've made a fire!" The little orange fox was overjoyed. In the space of an hour, he had managed to gather together a good selection of firewood and rub a length of it against a large chunk of tree bark to kindle a substantial blaze. During this time, Eggor had been clanking around taking the ship to pieces, but it was a mystery to Tails what he had actually been doing with the parts.

"Very good," said Eggor in a monotone voice. 

"What have you been up to, Eggor?" Miles asked cheerfully.

"Oh, I managed to build a small oven, a distress signal that uses electric residues to illuminate the sky, a long distance radio receiver, a water distillation unit and run a full maintenance on my systems in the spare time." The robot replied in an offhand manner.

"Ah." Tails looked at his miserable little fire. 

Eggor clanked over to a large pile of parts he had salvaged from the bridge, and Tails eyed a pile of sticks to his right. It took a while for him to realise that those were not sticks he'd gathered for his fire, they weren't neatly stacked like his were. Additionally, they didn't look like they had been snapped off trees like his-- it was as if they'd been torn from the bark…

"Shall I distil some water for drinking?" Eggor asked of the distracted fox.

"Oh, sure, yeah…" Tails replied. He took another glance at the slithers of wood and guessed that they must have been created when part of a tree was ripped apart by the falling bridge. That was the only explanation there could possibly be.

__

Chink… chink… chink… chink…

A pause as Sonic reached out for a different crayon to colour Mr Cuddle Bunny's Happy Birthday Party scene.

__

Chink… chink… chink… chink…

The hedgehog had been hurling small stones at the hard metal side of the capsule for about forty minutes now, and he was beginning to admire Dr Robotnik's endurance. The scientist, however, was fighting a losing battle against Sonic's remarkable power to annoy. He reached the very end of his tether right about… n--

"WILL YOU CEASE WITH THAT AGONISING DIN, YOU INSUFFERABLE RODENT!!!" he screamed in extreme fury.

"Let me use your shelter, and I will." Sonic smirked, finishing off the rim on Mr Cuddle Bunny's little blue hat.

"No, I refuse! And if you continue irritating me, I shan't give you any food either!" With that, Sonic threw the crayon to one side and shot up. 

"Food! Food, you said food! Where is food? I want food."

Dr Robotnik sat back smugly against the metal wall inside the capsule. The ball was in his court now-- whatever that meant. "Sonic had better be a good boy, then, and maybe nice, brilliant, eggsceptional Dr Robotnik will allow him to eat just a little bit of--"

"And if Dr Robotnik would like his teeth to stay connected to his gums," Sonic interjected, "he'd better agree to share his food and shelter with Sonic."

There was a silence.

"I choose what you can eat." Robotnik mumbled. Sonic bounced towards the capsule, but before he got there something caught his attention in the water beyond the beach. With a graceful hop, he turned around and blasted into the shallow water to see what was floating around. As he got closer, he saw that there were actually quite a few objects drifting in the sea. A large chunk of metal caught his attention first, formed into a bizarre shape by what was obviously a tremendous force. Holding the end of it in two hands, he pulled it towards him and tried to read the writing on the upper side. It wasn't easy as burn marks covered a lot of the lettering, but he could just about make out each solid black letter: 

EGGS-BOX CARGO BAY #5

Ensure all bay doors are secured before take-off.

Keep door area clear during locking procedure.

Areas must be regularly checked for unauthorised cargo.

Below that was a large area of heavily chipped red paint, which Sonic guessed at one time was a large symbol or logo. Presumably an explosion within the cargo bay had blown the wall apart, and this warped sheet of metal was a piece of the debris. Looking around, it certainly seemed like a lot of the junk floating around could have been cargo of some sort. Sonic located two packages wrapped in white plastic amongst the pieces and picked them up. With water up to his elbows, Sonic turned back round and started treading back toward the beach.

"Robotnik! What's this then? Yoo-hoo! He's ignoring me. Oi, Eggman! Ivo! Doctor! You! Oh, it's no good; I'll have to do something drastic. Hey, Master-"

Dr. Robotnik's grinning face poked out of the capsule.

"-What's this, then?" Sonic finished, traipsing up the beach with a package under either arm. Eggman took one of the packets, sat down and tore the outer white plastic off.

"Oh, it's just a parcel. Look." Dr. Robotnik held the cardboard box out to Sonic and pointed at a logo in the top right hand corner. The hedgehog peered at a red logo with the letters EG printed in strange lettering, with the G facing backwards. Right next to it was the name of Robotnik's courier service, _Federal Eggspress_, and below it in the centre of the box was an address: Ms M Creek, 8U2 Marine Way, Tranquil Harbour Zone. Sonic's gaze floated over the various areas on the parcel, but eventually landed back on the EG logo, which seemed very unusual to him.

"This is your new logo? It's not like your usual ones. The G is the wrong way round! What's that all about, then?" Sonic babbled. To his surprise, Robotnik actually looked quite unsure.

"No real reason, it's just a good design." He replied quietly, taking the other parcel from Sonic. It was considerably smaller than the one belonging to Ms Creek, and Dr Robotnik removed the white plastic to reveal a package in a similar box. "What are you looking at me like that for?"

Sonic shrugged and said; "Shall we open a package, then?"

"Go ahead." Robotnik grumbled and handed Sonic the smaller of the two parcels, "don't expect much, though."

Sonic located the opening in the cardboard box and slipped his finger underneath the tab. The packet slipped open and inside was another colourful cardboard packet with vacuum-formed plastic on each side. He took it out and tore it open excitedly.

"Hey, a football! Robotnik, on yer 'ed!" Sonic swung his leg around and booted the ball with his foot, sending it flying towards the bewildered scientist. It struck him hard in the face, bouncing off his nose and flying off to one side. His blancmange-esque body actually seemed to ripple as he recoiled from the collision.

"WHAT ON MOBIUS IS YOUR PROBLEM? You smelly, stupid, _useless_ little RAT!" Robotnik screeched angrily, staggering around and holding his nose.

"Er, sorry. I, er, don't think I'll open the other one." Sonic was trying hard not to laugh. 

"I think my nose is bleeding! Oh, well it isn't, but I think, I think, OH, IT IS! What kind of stupid idea was that, pelting your stupid football at my face? Stupid, STUPID hedgehog!"

"I'll just go into the capsule to, er, think about what I've done, okay?"

Sonic clapped his hand over his mouth and leapt into the capsule, where he sat against a wall and chuckled mindlessly to himself.

"Right. And don't come out until you're ready to say sorry."


	5. Terror in the Dark

C5

Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters and settings are copyright Sega Corporation. None of it belongs to me, but all property is theft, man. Whatever that means.

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Chapter Five - Terror in the Dark

Night had fallen over the twin islands. The two residents of the former escape capsule were sleeping, and Eggor had put his systems on standby to reserve the limited energy available on the bridge. Tails was the only one of the four who was alert and awake.

He sat on the edge of the bridge's trapdoor with his legs dangling over the edge, staring down at the forest floor. At the moment he was thinking about Eggor. Originally he thought that the right thing to do would be to smash the robot and release the squirrel, Kevin, who had been encased within the shell. However, Tails soon realised that food on the island was extremely scarce, and it wasn't worth risking him and Kevin starving just to quickly give the squirrel back his freedom. It would be more sensible to wait until it was safe to release Kevin, when there was enough food for both the animals to survive. Tails had also thought of flying over to the other island, but he knew there was no way he could make such a long flight without having to stop. The fox's thoughts then turned to Sonic and Dr Robotnik, and how much food they had between them. Eggor had already assured him that Robotnik had packed a good deal of food into the capsule before the accident, but Miles knew how much Sonic ate and worried the pair might run out of food for themselves rather quickly. Then again, he was worried enough that the escape pod might not have actually reached the island in the first place, since he lost sight of it as it approached the beach. On the other hand, it wasn't like Sonic to give up so easily. Especially not with Robotnik there, Tails reminded himself with a grin.

A sudden cold breeze swept through the forest, and Tails wrapped his arms around his small furry body. The trees, Tails thought, looked much more beautiful by night than during the day. He now appreciated the nature surrounding him, closing his eyes and listening to the calming sound of the wind brushing through the trees. 

Then, a loud crash broke through the tranquillity. It sounded like a very large object had been hurled at a collection of trees, and smashed them over purely because of its weight.

Tails's eyes shot open and peered down the hole in the floor. There was nothing down there, just the same trees swaying harmlessly in the wind. Getting up on his knees, he scanned as much of the forest as he could, but still saw nothing unusual. Eventually the sound occurred again, only Tails could pinpoint the direction the sound was coming from a little better this time.

"Is anyone down there?" he shouted desperately, "Sonic? Is that you?"

There was no reply, but the wind had died down and Tails could make out a crunching sound.

"Please, if that's you Dr Robotnik… I won't hurt you. Eggor's here as well. Please answer me." he whined softly. He wanted a reply, or just to see whatever it was. Receiving absolutely no response whatsoever might have showed that the sounds weren't being made by any creature at all, but that wouldn't stop Tails being paranoid about the clamour. He remembered hearing somewhere that 'the horror you imagine is always far worse than the horror you can see'. When fear is all in the mind, it doesn't matter whether the terror is actually founded or not. There was another sound, this time quieter and coming from a slightly different direction. Tails glanced at Eggor in the corner of the room, sitting lifelessly against a wall with but a single flashing red LED showing any activity whatsoever. He was alone. He had heard the last of the ominous sound, but he was alone and hadn't worked out what it was that was frightening him.

Swallowing hard, Tails plodded over to Robotnik's chair and curled up on the soft upholstery, trying to sleep.

* * *

The following morning, Sonic looked out over the sea and stretched his arms groggily. He had not had a good night's sleep by any stretch of the imagination. There was only one bed in the capsule, so Sonic had been forced to sleep on the chilly metal floor below Robotnik's bed. Thankfully Robotnik didn't snore, but he did talk and turn a lot in his sleep. Sonic found himself stuffing the corners of his pillow in his ears to try and block out the sound of mindless incoherent babble and the creaking of the capsule's small fold-out bed as Robotnik shifted his enormous body. When he had finally dozed off, he had had a series of unpleasant nightmares, although looking back Sonic didn't suppose they were as bad as the horrible situation fate had bestowed upon him at the moment.

"Oh, good morning Sonic. Have a good sleep? _I_ didn't- I kept dreaming I was stuck on a horrible desert island with a stupid rodent who, for no particular reason, decided to kick a football at my head!" Ah, the _real_ nightmare had awoken!

"You aren't going to let that go, are you? Look, if it means so very much to you, if you can't bear to go on without hearing it… I apologise." Sonic chose his words carefully. He deliberately didn't say 'I'm sorry' because, well, he wasn't sorry in the slightest. He thought the great colossal walrus deserved all the Tragic Sporting Injuries he could get.

"I don't want to hear it!" Robotnik said in a shrill voice, "I should go and speak to that ball, I could -hahaha- probably get more intelligent conversation out of it than I would from you!" 

"Hey, I never asked you to talk to me at all! In fact, I'd be a lot happier if you'd just shut up!" Sonic yelled, turning around to meet Robotnik. The scientist already looked pretty rough; his moustache was crooked and messy and his clothes were somewhat dirty. Sonic frowned; it's not like Robotnik had even left the capsule!

Eggman was about to speak, but Sonic rudely brushed past him and walked over to their container. He fumbled through the rubbish to locate the crayons, but it was the parcel that he had found yesterday that fell into view, the bizarre logo appearing to him once again. This simple sign had occupied his mind last night as he was trying to get to sleep, and something about it gave him an odd feeling. He couldn't understand why Dr Robotnik had chosen to modify his old EG logo into this design, and hadn't been able to come up with an explanation behind it. Delicately, he picked the large package up and placed it in a secure space in the corner of the metal box. Below where it had been, he found the crayons.

"What are you doing?" Robotnik called out angrily, "if you're after the food, you're wasting your time. I've hidden it! Hahaha!" The madman laughed icily, until he realised that Sonic wasn't looking for the food after all. The hedgehog had taken a crayon out of the box and had drawn a silly smiley face on the ball. 

"Here's your new friend, Robotnik!" Sonic shouted, placing the ball on the ground. He crouched and took a few steps back. "Get ready!"

"No, _hand_ me the ball Sonic… no, don't do that again…" Robotnik replied, covering his face with his hands and cowering pathetically.

"And it's Sonic approaching the goal area, he's building up for a hard kick… he shoots-" The hedgehog swung his foot back sharply--

Tails was still asleep when Eggor came back online. The robot flexed his arms, trying to loosen his stiff joints. He hadn't ever been on standby mode before-- he had never had any reason to-- and it was quite difficult to move after being still for so long. It suddenly came to him that this stretching of the arms was a trait he'd picked up from Dr. Robotnik, after seeing him do the exact same thing after a good, long sleep. Just this small thing made Eggor feel more human, and this worried him. He thought his Master would be shocked and upset to find out that Eggor occasionally felt that way.

Eggor shook his arms one last time and began clanking down the bridge towards the trap door. As he descended the ladder leading to the forest, he noticed some of the trees had had chunks torn out of them. Had Tails been gathering more firewood in the night? It didn't look like the trees had been cut by any tools Tails had access to at the moment. Eggor stood up straight and clanked toward the collection of machines he had built yesterday from various components salvaged from the _Eggs-Box_'s bridge, to see if the computer had picked up any radio signals. He wanted to see if search teams had been sent out looking for Dr Robotnik yet.

To his right, he heard a crashing sound, and he spun around to meet it. Typically, he saw nothing, and began to cautiously approach the bushes. The plants looked terribly torn and ruffled, with the tops of some large flowers actually severed. With a low mechanical grating sound, Eggor knelt down to take a close look in the bushes. As his steady metal hand reached forward, a shrill sound rang out from behind him.

"Eggor! What are you looking for? Is something there?" Tails called, causing the robot to jump very slightly.

"Not now, but I think there might have been," he paused, trying to think of another reason for the damaged plant life, "was there a storm last night?"

"A storm? No, but," he lowered his voice, as if something was listening, "I heard some strange noises. Like something very large was moving through the forest!" 

"Something large?" 

"Large. I called to it, but there was no response, so it wasn't Sonic or Robotn-" Tails stopped as he noticed Eggor indicating a point somewhere behind him. Upon turning around, Tails didn't initially spot anything unusual, but his sharp eyes soon picked up on the destroyed tree in the distance.

"You don't suppose, Eggor, that there's… something else here with us…?" 

Dr Robotnik sat on the grass with a box of tissues on his lap, feeling very sorry for himself. His eyes were red and streaming from hayfever, and he had to tape his glasses back together after Sonic had booted the ball at him for a second time. But at least, he thought, I've got rid of that hedgehog for a while.

Sonic had, in fact, gone out to find food in the dense forest next to the beach. To be honest, Robotnik had brought enough food to last them both a while yet, but Sonic wasn't happy about practically eating out of Eggman's hand. He just wanted to stretch his legs as well; Sonic never liked staying still for so long.

Robotnik sniffed noisily and reached into his tissue box. He wanted to be at home, where there were no flowers, no forests, a nice warm bed and a complete and total absence of hedgehogs. His normally etiolated skin had already tanned slightly from exposure to this intense sunlight. His eyes stung, his nose was running, and his head ached.

"I hate nature," Robotnik mumbled.

As he reached into his tissue box to retrieve another sheet, his ears picked up a screeching sound in the distance.

__

Oh please, please don't let that be what I think it is…

The sound died out.

__

Oh, it's fine… it's gone… what a relief.

The noise occurred again, only from above Robotnik this time. His head snapped back and he stared upwards at the trees, breathing heavily in between sniffs. After a few seconds of watching the trees waving slightly in the wind, he looked forward again. Whatever had been there, it must have gone now. 

THUD.

"HEY, EGGMAN!" Sonic yelled after falling down in front of the startled scientist. "Man, do I feel better after that run!"

"Wonderful! I'm so happy for you!" Robotnik mumbled miserably, throwing the tissue box to the ground. It seemed like he really wasn't happy about Sonic seeing him this ill, as if it was a sign of weakness. 

"You look terrible, dude," Sonic said, with the very slightest, tiny, minute hint of sympathy in his voice, "But anyway, I came here because I found something interesting at the other side of the island. I think you should check it out." During his run, Sonic had been doing some thinking, and he'd decided to try being nicer to Robotnik whilst they were in this predicament. It wasn't as though Eggman was any threat to him without his robots.

"Why should I?"

"I reckon you might have a clue as to what it is." He paused. "You've never been on this island before, have you?" Sonic asked, in a lower voice.

This question seemed to surprise Robotnik, "of course I haven't! Why, have you?"

"Huh? No, not at all. Come on, follow me."

The pair stood up and headed towards the lush, dense forest.


	6. Sinister Devices

C6

NOTE: I realise that the 'cure' in this chapter is just dodgy folklore and not genuine in real life, but I decided to use it anyway. Poetic license, y'see.

Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters and settings are copyright Sega Corporation. None of it belongs to me, but all property is theft, man. Whatever that means.

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Chapter Six - Sinister Devices.

Sonic and Robotnik trudged through the thickening forest, about a good 5 metres away from each other. They'd fallen out. Or rather, they'd fallen even further out, since they were never really 'in' to begin with. 

The walk was taking longer than Sonic would've hoped. He knew Dr Robotnik could walk a lot faster than he currently was, he was just being difficult. He had no desire to see what Sonic wanted to show him, even though the hedgehog was sure he'd be interested to see it. Thus, an argument had started over whether Robotnik was genuinely too sick to walk a little quicker, and whether it was actually worth hurrying to see Sonic's observation.

"Is this fascinating surprise anywhere close?" Robotnik called out indignantly.

"We'd have reached it ages ago if you could pick up the pace!" Sonic snapped irritably. He lashed out with his hands to clear some of the branches that were obstructing his path.

Dr. Robotnik rather less aggressively pulled the branches aside as he advanced. "It's easy for you, you're used to this kind of environment. I'm used to electricity, convenient machines, a perfect temperature, perfect food… different varieties of omelette every night… except for Friday --Indian Take-Away night-- and a McNasty's occasionally for lunch…" Dr Robotnik trailed off and stared into the distance. For once, he didn't seem to be hiding that fact that he was scared, and that was rather unnerving to Sonic. He usually stuck up for the underdog, the frightened victim, but when it was Robotnik...

"Hurry up!" Sonic whined impatiently, adding length to the word 'hurry', "I'd like to make it there before midnight!"

They had both reached a thick area of greenery and had to stop, intensifying an awkward silence.

"Ordering me around," Robotnik said quietly, without even thinking, "you're turning into Me." Sonic swung round to face his nemesis and exploded.

"HOW DARE YOU! I am nothing like you! I am -hahaha!- practically the eggsact opposite of you!" he screamed. Then his face dropped and he signed expressively.

"I'm sorry," he said, not terribly convincingly, "no, I really am. I guess it's not your fault. We're almost there, anyway." Sonic pushed forward, standing up to his knees in a thick bush of unfriendly-looking spiked leaves. He held his hands out and felt his face go bright red.

"I've just stood… in a chuffing great patch of stinging nettles," he reported in a state of controlled panic. "Now, what is it that cures nettle stings, Robotnik?" His eyes fixed on Robotnik with a look of desperation. He would've usually been too proud to blatantly beg for his archenemy's help like this, but the vicious prickling hurt like the Dickens.

"I don't know," Robotnik admitted, leaning forward to deliver his forthcoming words; "but I know someone who does." Bearing a grin that almost seemed to extend to both tips of his wild moustache, he produced the _Ultimate Guide to Surviving Against All Odds _from his back pocket. 

"Let's see… nettle stings," he browsed casually, "ah, here we go. Dock leaf should relieve it, apparently."

"Great! So what does that look like?" Sonic said, bending down amongst a collection of various plants and flowers.

"No idea," Robotnik said, sadistically relishing Sonic's prolonged suffering.

The hedgehog swung his foot around, kicking the nettles in wrathful, vengeful anger. "Why does nature hate me? I'm always sticking up for nature!" He stopped and looked around.

"Hey, I remember this place-- we're dead close! Look at this!" Sonic leapt at a tree and bombed up the side of it into the dense, leafy treetops. Robotnik stood there, completely bewildered, and after a few moments began to wonder if Sonic's plan was to take him into the forest and leave him here. However, before he could shout out something rude, an enchanting metal clanking sound was heard, followed by a horrific stressed creaking. It reminded Robotnik of the robots and machines at home --wonderful home, where there's a full carton of eggs in every fridge and a robot around every corner!-- and this lifted his spirits, no matter what the machine was. With astonishing agility for a man his size, Robotnik hopped through the bushes and ran over to where Sonic was, his face plastered with a huge dumb smile. When he looked up at the machine his smile disappeared, but it was replaced by an expression of sheer surprise rather than disappointment.

"What _is_ it?" Robotnik gasped, pointing up at a large contraption that looked like a vehicle of some sort. It was shaped like a squashed oval --egg-shaped, Dr Robotnik thought-- and had the shiniest plating he'd ever seen. The dazzling reflections of the bright sunlight were almost blinding, but he couldn't help but gaze at it. At the bottom of the contrivance were four chrome legs that were clamped tightly against the burnished body of the machine. The whole thing was tethered to a large steel platform by a thick, twisted metal wire and swung there looking rather undignified for a device of such magnificence. Below it was the water, and Dr Robotnik was observing the scene from a sheer cliff. Sonic stood on the upper platform, eyeing what appeared to be a control panel of sorts. 

"Ah, it's not one of yours. I didn't think so," Sonic muttered, not really sounding too convinced at all. "Any idea what it is?"

"I assume it's a boat, that's why it's hanging over the water. And the legs, they must be so it can crawl onto land. What's on that panel?"

"Oh, controls. Buttons and levers: Rotate, Raise, Lower, Release… hey, that must be the one to drop it into the water!" 

Dr Robotnik said nothing. He was eyeing Sonic intently, presumably waiting for him to press a button. However, for once Sonic was not impulsive and genuinely wondered whether they should rush into the boat. They didn't even know whose it was, and it seemed all too convenient that a means of escape should be just sitting here on an apparently abandoned island.

"Lower it into the water," Robotnik commanded eventually.

Sonic casually leaned forward onto the control panel, supporting himself with one hand, and pulled the 'lower' lever down gently. 

The entire platform shook violently, emitting a dreadful metallic whine. Sonic had to tighten his grip on the controls so not to get thrown off.

"Ugh, this thing can't have been used for ages!" he yelled over the side of the platform.

"It -hahaha!- it worked though, look!" Robotnik pointed to the machine in delight. The metal wire had unravelled through a hook where it connected to the upper platform, significantly lowering the boat's height. "Now press the release button."

Sonic shook his head; he wasn't enjoying being ordered about like this. Expecting another jolt like before, he pushed the release button with his gloved finger and braced himself. He needn't have wasted his time, though, because very little happened indeed. The only sound was a slight clicking, and an anguished cry from Dr Robotnik.

"Argh, the clip must be stuck! The boat is still connected to the wire! Sonic, jump down there and try to prise the clip apart."

"What? Listen, you, I don't appreciate being treated like one of your machines!"

"Just do it," Robotnik spat, "unless you've got a better idea."

Sonic hissed at the old doctor, then leapt off the platform. Reaching out with his hands, he gripped the rope and slid down it gracefully. There was a tiny clank as his shoes touched the shiny surface of the boat. Looming over, he inspected the clip.

"This thing must be really old," Sonic observed, "it's all rusted and perished. Oh well, here goes--" He grasped the top of the clip firmly and pulled it up. 

The clip fell apart in his hands. The entire left-hand side of the vehicle was unsupported, and it swung around viciously, throwing Sonic off his feet. The hedgehog was hurled though the air, until he managed to grip the mirror-like surface and cling on for dear life. The door to the boat, its locking mechanism clearly not in place, swung open and banged against the side of the ship, narrowly avoiding Sonic and creating a ringing clank that made him wince. When he could open his eyes again, he stared at something on the door.

__

He lied to me! Sonic thought, _That's Robotnik's logo! _

Gathering his strength in his arms, Sonic hurled himself up onto the top of the boat. Instead of landing on it, though, he pushed his feet hard against the surface, bouncing off to land beside Robotnik on the island. As he pushed on the boat, the clip broke apart completely and the odd device plummeted a short distance into the water. 

Sonic and Robotnik looked at each other briefly. Robotnik was going to say "Well done", but he didn't bother. Both of them just stood there, looking half-mortified, half-devastated.

The 'boat' sank like a rock.

Tails jogged through the forest, his face bleached white and saturated with sweat. The trees that had looked so innocent and beautiful now seemed to be deliberately hindering his passage. He needed to get to Eggor, right now. Tails badly wanted to be as independent as Sonic, but in the face of true fear it was essential to be with somebody. Anybody.

"Eggor!" he shouted to the robot, who was currently clearing the forest floor, "I found something very unusual… I need you to see it."

Eggor regarded the fox. Tails looked like his Master did whenever there was a salmonella scare. "Very well," he said gruffly, "lead me to it." 

Tails hopped up into the air and took flight, the hunchbacked robot trundling behind him. Not too far from where the bridge was (it was a small island, after all), he stopped and pointed at an object that was half covered in grass and vines.

It was a large container, about twice Eggor's height, made with thick walls of metal. On the side was a small, round, murky window that displayed a view of the interior of the container. Tails, still floating in the air, breathed heavily.

Eggor trundled over to the box and studied it. "It's not one of Doctor--"

"You don't need to tell me!" Tails blurted, "it's not Dr Robotnik's technology, we don't know whose it is!" Again, fear of the unknown. 

"It's empty." Eggor said, gazing through the small window, "it's not important."

Tails threw his hands up in frustration. "Don't you see? Look at the writing on the side!"

It wasn't easy to read the print on the side of the capsule as it had been worn away by bad weather. The general theme was obvious though-- 'Danger!' 'Do not activate until unit is in secure environment!' 'Do not release door in insecure environment even if the unit is deactivated!' Whatever had been in there had been very nasty indeed. 

Eggor brushed his hand over the tarnished wall of the container to reveal a small piece of writing that hadn't been worn away as badly as the rest. All it was was the number 63 in a strange font. 

"It's here, Eggor, in the forest somewhere. It's what I heard at night, what had got those trees!"

Eggor was silent for a moment. "I think we should go back to the bridge." He said.

The pair turned to head back, but there was something blocking their path.


	7. Eye of the Tigar

C7

Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters and settings are copyright Sega Corporation. None of it belongs to me, but all property is theft, man. Whatever that means.

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Chapter Seven - Eye of the Tigar.

Tails flew up high into the air as soon as the horror faced him. Eggor had no means of escape, of course, so he just stood there looking the thing right in the eyes.

Before him was a large metal tiger, coloured red with clashing blue stripes, with more teeth than your average dentist gets to see in their entire lifetime. It snarled in a robotic voice and swirled its tail around, watching Eggor. A sound from above got its attention, and its sharp head snapped upwards.

"Eggor, run!" Tails shouted.

But Eggor wasn't going to run. He could only move very slowly, and had no chance of evading this beast. His only hope, if he had any at all, would be to fight this thing. Extending his arm, Eggor pressed a small button on his wrist and his pizza cutter unfurled. XXtra cripsy base setting, the next best thing to a circular saw. Assuming a battle pose he'd seen people do in movies, he faced the robot tiger.

"Come and get some," he grunted.

The tiger leapt over and knocked his head off with one giant paw.

Tails cried out in anguish. The big cat turned around to depart, leaving Eggor's decapitated body still standing in its fighting position, the head falling into the long grass. Tails took one look at the scene, then flew off in the direction the tiger had gone, furious.

"I don't know what you are," Tails yelled, "but if Sonic's taught me one thing, it's that I should never leave something as dangerous as you to wander around!"

The cyber-tiger perked its little blue ears and turned to see Tails yet again. It growled and arched its sleek body, glaring menacingly at the flying orange fox.

"Can't reach me, can you? What a piece of rubbish! Even some of Robotnik's badniks can fly!" Tails taunted. He didn't expect the robot to understand him; he was just downright enraged. Partly because of what it'd done to Eggor, but mostly because it had scared him so much the other night.

It was actually lucky the tiger couldn't understand what he was saying, because he would have looked very dumb indeed. It leapt up from its arched position, thrusting its powerful hind legs into the ground. The distance it jumped was absolutely incredible, and it managed to reach Tails before he had the chance to dodge. With a short thud Tails was thrown to the ground, landing on his back. The tiger then landed over him, its weight pinning him to the ground. Tails squeaked in panic, but managed to regain enough control to grab the closest thing he could use as a weapon. 

"Take THIS!" Tails cried, swinging a think branch around and hitting the tiger on the head. The wood simply broke it two as it connected with the hard metal. The tiger's head was thrown back slightly before it loomed forwards and roared threateningly in Tails's face. The tiny fox shrank backwards away from the horrible creature, and shut his eyes instinctively. When he was able to open them again, the robot had raised its claws, ready to strike at the innocent creature. 

"I'm going to deal with you… the way we deal with all robots…" And with that, he curled around into a tight ball, spinning furiously. His twin tails struck at the beast, forcing it to withdraw and give Tails room to escape. Unfortunately, it didn't fall apart as he had hoped, but he was free. And now he knew his advantage. Sonic had once told him that, no matter what advantages the enemy always had against you, you always had to have at least one advantage against them. Flying over to a steep cliff at the edge of the island, Tails utilised his advantage.

"Fine, I admit it," he said mockingly, in a 'you scared me to death before-- is this the best you can do?' tone of voice, "You're stronger than Robotnik's robots. But you're still a piece of rubbish. Know why? Because you're stupid, _stupid_, STUPID!"

The thing, outraged not by Tails's words but by his threatening manner, leapt straight for the fox again. This time, though, Tails was able to cartwheel out of the way, leaving the tiger flailing through the air, heading straight off the edge of the cliff. Tails hovered over the grass, triumphantly watching it smash against the rocks below and crash into pieces. He especially enjoyed seeing its head fall off in one piece, as it had caused Eggor's to do. 

Eggor.

Tails turned quickly and went to the site of the robot's destruction. Even if it had been destroyed, there was an imprisoned squirrel to release. There seemed to be an awful lot of noise though, maybe the animal had escaped on its own.

Tails was dumbstruck when he reached the area where Eggor had been decapitated. The body of the robot staggered around wildly and aimlessly, obviously trying to walk in one direction but continually tripping and falling over. 

"Eggor?" Tails said, "what's going on? I thought you were destroyed!"

"No, Dr Robotnik designed many of his robots to operate with their head detached," Eggor said, sounding like a voice-over from a promotional video, "it's an easy target, so each part can run separately." The body fell over yet again, crashing hard on the ground. "The problem is, it isn't easy to control your body when you're watching it as a third person."

Tails didn't understand that comment until he looked toward the source of the voice. Eggor's head lay against a small bush, half obscured by grass. Tails Laughed Out Loud.

"Oh, it's like when you try to move when looking in a mirror!" Tails cried happily, "here, I'll get your head for you." The polite fox picked up the heavy head and plonked it back on Eggor's broad shoulders. 

"Thank you," Eggor said flatly, turning his head around disturbingly to screw it back in place, "what happened to that other robot?"

"I destroyed it," Tails said proudly. "Sure wish I knew what is was doing here, though. Are you certain Dr Robotnik didn't make it? It didn't look the same at all, but… I just can't work out who else it could be."

Eggor's face cracked into something that vaguely resembled a smile; "I don't care." He said.

Robotnik held his head in his hands. He couldn't bear to watch as the stupid, useless boat-only-not-really sank down into the depths of the sea. He and Sonic stood side by side, in silence. Eventually, Sonic spoke.

"You lied to me," he said coldly, "that must've been your boat, it had your logo on it."

Robotnik span around quickly, "of course not! You must have seen wrong! I didn't even know this island existed! And I thought that was a boat, but it sank, so it can't have been!" He was gibbering, but he seemed genuinely upset.

Sonic faced away from his adversary, "fine," he said, "whatever. But if you try anything--" Sonic trailed off, and sat heavily on the grass. "I saw something else written on the back of it as it sank." He said quietly, "the word Tigar, spelt with an 'a' instead of an 'e'."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Now, I used to spell tiger like that, until Dr Kintobor showed me how it was really spelt." He tried to keep a steady voice, and hide the anger that was boiling within him. "You don't remember anything from when you were Kintobor, do you?"

"No, I don't." Robotnik said firmly, "oh, except for one thing! I remembered the recipe for the perfect Spanish omelette!"

"Great." Sonic sneered at Robotnik's cheeriness and turned to leave for the tent. He paused, and looked over his shoulder, "Hold on… Dr Kintobor made lousy omelettes!"

"He did?"

"Yeah! He made me one once; it was vile!"

Robotnik walked after Sonic, "I suppose it was my genius that formulated that recipe, then."

Sonic seethed silently, and cursed himself for ever trusting Robotnik out here. The mad scientist had a plan, he had a machine, and he probably been laughing at Sonic all this time. He had a means of escape, and was probably planning to use it as soon as he got the hedgehog out of the way. And the _worst_ thing, the _real_ kick in the teeth, was that his machine had been named after a spelling mistake Sonic had made when he was a child! The whole set-up seemed to be made to make Sonic feel like an idiot, and he hated it. He wasn't an idiot, and tonight he was going to prove it.


	8. The Traitor

C8

Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters and settings are copyright Sega Corporation. None of it belongs to me, but all property is theft, man. Whatever that means.

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Chapter Eight - The Traitor

Tails and Eggor made their way down the rocks leading to the wreckage of the tiger. Tails just wanted to find out if there was any indication who made the robot, but Eggor needed to have a look for a different reason. Part of his electronics had been damaged when he was decapitated, and he needed to find some replacement parts.

"What exactly was damaged, Eggor?" Tails asked, hopping over to the destroyed tiger.

"I thimk it wuh-wuh-was my speech yuh-unit," Eggor replied, plunging his hand right into the corpse of the beast. Tails watched as he pulled out one component after another and placed them on the floor in a neat little pile.

"Er, can you actually put that lot back together? I mean… you could barely control your body before, how are you going to repair your own head?" 

Eggor stood silently for a moment. "Actually, I was hoping you could perform the repairs, with my directions," he said, "Master told me you were quite proficient at building mechanical devices…"

"Really? Robotnik said that?" Tails exclaimed, "sure, I'll give it a try."

It seemed Eggor had managed to salvage all the parts he needed, as he then picked up the pile and began to clank back to the bridge. This gave Tails the chance to have a look inside the tiger's workings, hopefully to find some kind of markings that might help him learn more about it. Carefully removing a thin metal bar, he glanced at a large motherboard located in the centre of the tiger's motionless body. Printed in bold red letters on the large circuit, were a few words:

'TIGAR' -MK. 2.3

CREATED BY RESEARCHER No 63

That was it. Tails didn't know who this 'Researcher No 63' was, but he was sure it wasn't Robotnik. He wondered if he might still be here, on the island, living as a recluse. The tiger may have been here to guard him.

"It's getting late," Eggor had returned, having already dropped the replacement parts off at the bridge. "I think we should start the repairs."

"Right," Tails said.

Night-time arrived. Sonic lay on the floor of the former escape capsule, wide awake. Despite the loud pounding of the rain on the hollow metal pod, Dr Robotnik had fallen sound asleep and lay there on his small fold-out bed, mouth hanging open and breathing shallowly. Sonic took one last look at him to make certain he was still in a deep sleep, and then quietly slipped out of the tent. As he left, he saw that accursed parcel in the corner. He consulted it yesterday to have another look at the logo-- not that he needed confirmation that it was the same thing he saw yesterday, for he was already certain. Something about the package bothered him yet again, but he shrugged it off and departed silently. 

Yesterday, he had found a small track of dirt that led down to the water where the machine had sank. Even though Sonic couldn't swim, he thought it might be possible to take the track down to the scene of the sinking to check the 'boat' out for a second time. He cursed the fact that he had fetched that treacherous, lying, two-faced scientist instead of having a good look at the vehicle himself. If he'd discovered it was Robotnik's ship earlier, he might've been able to force the madman to take them both home. Or even better, have the machine take Sonic home and leave himself to rot on this island, alone and miserable. Like he deserved.

Sonic clenched his fists as he approached the slope leading to the water. Briefly glancing up at the rock cliff face looming over him, Sonic entered the water. His sharp eyes scanned the surface as he tried to locate the shiny vehicle amongst the rocks scattered around the seabed. It was somewhat difficult to see through the water with the huge splatters of rain battering the surface, so he took a deep breath and lowered himself into the murky fluid. Bitter cold coursed up his body as he entered the icy depths. Glancing around in the water, he eventually spotted the vehicle. It was still gleaming, even in this dark water, but it was a long way away. Sonic ran as quickly as he could against the resistance, heading for the large metal object in the distance. 

As he reached it, a sudden jolt of turbulence threw him forward. Managing to grab the gently swinging door of the 'boat', he pulled himself closer to the vehicle and tightly grasped onto the shiny surface, fighting against the strong current. Eventually the force died down, and Sonic was able to scan the metal for the logo. He glanced over the door, but it was to the left of that where he spotted what he needed to see.

And then, everything fell into place.

A crack of lightning lit up the underwater scene as Sonic turned to make his way back up the slope. He realised just how dumb he had been, so blinded with rage that he'd wandered into the sea alone on such a stormy night! He just wanted to leave this place. For once he would be thankful for the cold, uncomfortable capsule floor. He held his head down, floating towards the track of dirt that would lead him back onto land.

When Sonic lifted his head, he froze in shock. It turned out that the blast of turbulence had occurred when a large rock broke off the cliff and smashed into the slope, breaking it down. It was totally unusable. There was only one possible way for Sonic to exit the water, and that was up the cliff. Sonic tried to ignore his crippling headache as he gripped his hands on the rock, making the terrible mistake of actually looking up at the looming rock. Utilising the climbing skills he learned from Sally Acorn the squirrel back on South Island, he made his way up the cliff. A loud, desperate gasp was heard over the thunder and machine-gun fire of raindrops on rock as Sonic's head was pulled out of the water. The air was bitterly cold, especially with Sonic dripping wet, and he had to take a moment to regroup himself.

A voice inside Sonic's mind asked him why he was bothering. The cliff was huge and difficult to scale, and he was so cold he could barely move. He wished Tails were here. Heck, he wished _Robotnik_ were here. At least then he wouldn't die alone. 

The thought of Tails and, yes, Dr Robotnik allowed Sonic's determination to flood back into him for a moment. Exercising great strength in his upper arms, Sonic pulled himself up the rock and continued climbing with amazing speed. He wouldn't let himself die-- not like this. He had something to say to Robotnik first.

Gasping erratically, he reached the top of the precipice. Hands hooked over the edge, he tried to pull himself up, but he just ended up tugging a great mass of rock and soil off the end of the cliff. With his handhold broken, Sonic swung backwards, and his feet simply slipped over the wet rock. He had got so close to the top, but now he was falling, heading back down to the freezing water. 


	9. Ill-Fated Research

C9

Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters and settings are copyright Sega Corporation. None of it belongs to me, but all property is theft, man. Whatever that means.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Nine - Ill-Fated Research

When Sonic opened his eyes again, all he saw was rock. His body was numb, and the only sounds he could hear were those from his own body, like his quickened heartbeat and deep breathing. He felt frozen, frightened and helpless. Was this, he wondered, what it felt like to be dying?

He felt a jolt against his wrist, and finally realised that he was suspended. At first he thought his arm had by chance got trapped in a jag of rock, but he then felt a warm grip tighten around it. Outside sounds returned to him as he glanced up slightly.

"Sonic? I'll-- I'll pull you in."

Sonic felt himself being tugged over the top of cliff. Armies of raindrops attacked him relentlessly, but his rescuer had a tight hold and would not let him go. The relief Sonic felt when his knees grazed against the soaked grass was indescribable. His head slowly lifted up, and he found himself looking at Dr Robotnik's shocked face. He tried to say 'thank you', but his frigid blue lips could barely mouth the words. 

"What were you doing here?" Robotnik blurted, his face gradually regaining colour, "it's that machine, isn't it?"

He spoke with the same harsh tone as he had all the time he had been on the island. But he had just saved Sonic's life.

"I needed to see it again," Sonic stammered quietly. He managed to get up on his legs and stagger in the direction of the capsule. 

Robotnik followed him, and said nothing.

"And yes, I know exactly what your involvement with it was." Sonic frowned slightly.

"Hey…"

"Don't worry, I don't want to talk about that now. Tomorrow morning, I'll show you how I found out." Sonic finished. 

They made it back to the capsule, and clambered inside. Even in this state of exhaustion, Sonic still couldn't sleep. He still hadn't figured one thing out. As if it were to contain the answer to all his questions, Sonic looked over to the parcel again in desperation. As it happened, it did contain the answer to his main problem, and it always had. It just depended on how Sonic was thinking at that particular time.

Tails and Eggor left the bridge at about 7 in the morning-- long before Sonic and Eggman were up. Last night, Tails had managed to fix Eggor's speech unit, but in the process he had accidentally snapped a tiny resistor that had got in the way. Well, the workings of Eggor's head were very intricate, and Tails didn't have access to delicate tools at the moment. 

"What's broken now?" Tails enquired.

"It's my personality unit, alright?" Eggor snapped rudely, "my personality has been affected-- you got a problem with that? Why is it your business? Shut up!"

"I see what you mean," Tails muttered.

The robot obnoxiously clanked over to where the tiger's still body lay. It was still a little damp from the rain last night, but thankfully a sheet of metal casing had kept the parts relatively dry. Eggor tore out the component he wanted-- a small colourful resistor.

"Do you want me to connect that?" Tails said idly. 

"Are you saying I can't connect a small, delicate piece of equipment into the back of my own head?" Eggor screamed angrily, "I can do a better job than any useless little two-tailed freak fox!"

"Alright, alright! I was only offering to help." Tails threw up his arms in a despairing manner.

Eggor nodded aggressively, and flipped up a small door on the back of his head. Both his metal hands reached back behind his head, the resistor held precariously between two fingers. He looked like his stiff arms could barely reach the back of his head, never mind perform repairs on it!

The little piece of electronics slipped out from his fingers and dropped harmlessly into the water, where it floated on top of the steady, shimmering surface. Eggor grunted once, then trudged into the water to retrieve it. He snatched it up and tried again to insert it into the back of his head, standing up to his chest plate in water.

"You be careful!" Tails shouted from the bank, "You really don't want to get water in your head!"

"Get water in my head. How stupid do you think I am?" Eggor span around, and as he did so a foot got caught in a loop of seaweed that was imbedded in the seafloor, "now shut up and--"

Eggor was yanked back by the seaweed when he walked, toppling forwards. The resistor flew out of his hands again and landed back in the water, bobbing around innocently.

"This is ridiculous!" Tails exclaimed, running into the water and scooping up the small object. As Eggor floated on his front in the water, Tails inserted the resistor in his head, and flipped the door shut. It took a while for Eggor's master control system to register the new settings. After it did, he just lay there on the water surface, paralysed with trauma.

"I apologise unconditionally!" he blurted, "I had no control over my thoughts! It was just the damage done to my personality unit!"

"Forget it," Tails smiled, "I didn't take it personally."

"You don't know what I was thinking about my Master!" Eggor replied, horrified.

Tails laughed heartily for a moment, and then he noticed something.

"Eggor… you can float." He said quietly.

"Yes, I am also designed to be totally water-proof," Eggor said in that promotional video voice again, "so I can bathe Dr Robotnik" he added quietly.

Tails's face scrunched up with the effort of trying to push that disturbing mental image out of his head. Then, he flew out of the water and stood on Eggor's hunched back. The robot dipped very slightly further down, but he was still floating steadily on the surface.

"Eggor," Tails began, "I have a wicked idea…"

"A little higher… yeah, that's it. Now swing it to the right… no, RIGHT! Yes, now lower."

When Sonic and Dr Robotnik had finally woke up --around 11:00AM-- they had immediately made their way down to the cliff again. Sonic really didn't want to go back down into the water, so Robotnik had to climb down the half-destroyed slope and swim over to the machine to reconnect the cable. Of course, he had to tie the cable around a hook on the device, since the old clip was destroyed when Sonic had removed it. As the ramp was impossible to climb from within the water, Robotnik was now gripping hold of the machine's cable while Sonic swung it around using the controls. Water poured out of the open door as it was lifted up awkwardly, and eventually the machine came to rest on the moist grass. 

Dr Robotnik slid off the shiny surface and landed on the floor in a heap. Sonic performed a mighty leap from the control platform and landed beside him, grinning inanely.

"Look at that!" Sonic cried triumphantly, pointing at the side of the vehicle.

Dr Robotnik picked himself up and glanced at the number printed in strange red lettering on the metal; "63. So what? Maybe it was Useless-Legged-Boat-Thing 63. Maybe there are 62 others. What's that got to do with me?"

Sonic said nothing, and held the door's handle tightly. He slowly opened the door further, as if getting it in a particular position, and then beckoned for Robotnik to walk around and take a look at it.

Dr Robotnik saw the reflection of the number in the mirror-like door. His jaw dropped, and the only thing he could manage to force out was a diminutive "Oh my". 

The 63, when reflected, looked identical to Robotnik's EG symbol with the backwards G.

"You were wrong, you see, this thing _does_ belong to you," Sonic began, "or it did, anyway. It was made by Dr Kintobor!"

"I don't understand," Ivo admitted in a low voice, "what's this 63 logo got to do him me, I mean, him?"

"Dr Kintobor joined a team of commissioned researchers when he was in university on a foreign planet. He didn't have a lot of money, and he needed to fund his experiments, so he agreed to create machines for a company. He said he left in the end, but he wouldn't tell me why. Anyway, he was no. 63 in the group, and this was a kind of logo he put on his machines."

Sonic lifted his hand and pointed to the reflection again, "you don't remember much from when you were Kintobor, and anything you do remember is the reverse! Kintobor made notoriously toxic omelettes-- you remembered a recipe for really good ones! Kintobor's logo was this 63, yours was the reverse!" Sonic smiled brightly, but Robotnik's expression changed from confusion to a light snarl. He secretly hated being talked about as the waste product of a scientist's failed experiment.

"Very well worked out, Sonic, " he said sarcastically, "but that isn't going to get us off this island, is it? We still don't know what this is!" 

"I do," Sonic replied quickly, still grinning from ear to ear. He picked up something from the floor, something he had surreptitiously brought with him from the capsule this morning. It was the parcel.

"Last night, after I worked out what the machine was, I had a look at this thing again. All this stuff about backwards writing… it made me look at it differently. This rotten package of yours actually contains the answer." He pointed to the first line of the address: 8U2 Marine Way. 

"I don't see- oh yes. 8U2 backward looks like SUB. SUB Marine Way-- submarine. You think that thing's some sort of submarine?"

"Yeah!" Sonic shouted excitedly, "that's why it's got legs, to walk over the sea bed! It's weird, but then Kintobor used to collect cacti-- not normal at all. Now let's work out how to use this thing!" Sonic promptly leapt into the machine to examine the controls.

The interior of the machine was disappointingly dull. There were no fancy levers or the like, just one rather uncomfortable-looking chair and a box fixed to a wall. There was also a large window on the top that Sonic hadn't noticed before. Climbing gently into the chair, he flicked open the latch on the box. Inside were the controls, with a note tacked onto them. Sonic picked up the note and started reading:

'Fellow Researcher,

Before I tell you the details and location of the item you have arrived for, I have something else I need to say. 

I have decided to quit my job as a commissioned researcher for your organisation. Originally I believed the motives of our employers were benign, but in time they have become more and more sinister. The brief for this last project, I have come to realise, was just a sugar-coated request for a dangerous weapon. Not only am I strongly against the use for technology for military purposes, I admit with no shame whatsoever that I have no talent for creating machines of this nature. The Tigar, named after a friend of mine--'

Sonic beamed at his mention.

'--is a highly flawed piece of robotics, and I strongly suggest it is destroyed. I'd have done so myself, but it would go against my contract and give the company sufficient grounds to prosecute. I wish to now sever all links to this employer, but I implore you to pass my plea onto them. The Tigar is uncontrollable and vicious --even I had no luck in trying to command it-- and must never actually be used for its original purpose. 

As I said, it is not legal for me to destroy even a failed piece of equipment, so I have sealed it here for collection as the original plan stated. It is located on the other sector, marked B-864 on the map the commission should have given you, and I have provided this vehicle to travel between the two sectors, should you have landed on this one. The large underground pod on the other sector is able to fly containing both you and the Tigar, and will be able to return you home. Please remember how dangerous the robot is, and observe the safety notices on the containment pod. It is vitally important that you do NOT activate the machine! Ideally, it should never be activated, but at least wait until it is in a secure environment. Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Ovi Kintobor, AKA Researcher 63'

Sonic curled the piece of paper up and tucked it into his shoe. He wasn't sure whether Kintobor couldn't make a good military robot because he had no talent for that sort of thing (as he had suggested in the letter), or whether his philanthropic nature was subconsciously preventing him from doing so. Either way, it relieved Sonic, who had always worried that the reason for the scientist's effective demise was that he was too much like Robotnik-- messing around with chaos and robots and stuff. Sonic guessed that Kintobor was ashamed of being duped into building weapons, and the fact that he handed the Tigar over to the company in the end, and that was why he never told Sonic why he had left the scheme. However, Sonic was proud of his mentor for giving up what was always a well-paid job for his ethics.

The hedgehog was alarmed when he guessed that the other 'sector' was the second island on which Tails was residing, but then calmed down. The other researcher must've landed on that island first, and would've already taken the monster away. 

"Well?" came an indignant voice from outside the submarine vehicle, "have you worked out the controls yet?"

"It looks pretty obvious, just a joystick and a few buttons. There are 'submerge' and 'emerge' buttons, so it must be able to sort of float after all. I hope there's enough power to at least get to the other island."

"I think it's solar-powered," Robotnik muttered, examining the outside of the machine "that's why the surface is covered with these shiny panels."

"That's great, it might be able to take us all the way inland!" Sonic exclaimed, "get your stuff together, dude, we're going home!"


	10. Return to…Civilisation?

C10

Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters and settings are copyright Sega Corporation. None of it belongs to me, but all property is theft, man. Whatever that means.

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Chapter Ten - Return to…Civilisation?

Robotnik pushed the large box of belongings into the submarine vehicle and clambered in quickly. They were leaving! Getting off this nasty island! Robotnik was so much looking forward to getting home and being surrounded by his lovely, beautiful, wonderful robots and machines. He sat down on the box behind the chair where Sonic was seated at the controls and clasped his hands together excitedly.

"We might get jolted about a bit," Sonic said hurriedly, grasping his hands over the control joystick, "so hold on tight, okay?"

"What? Jolted?" 

Sonic pushed the joystick forward and Researcher 63's machine clanked into life. One leg reached forward, right over the edge of the cliff.

"You've _got_ to be kidding!" Robotnik shouted, "you're just going to walk this thing right off the island?"

"Yep!" Sonic smirked, "I told you to hold on…"

Dr Robotnik gripped hold of a handle sticking out of the wall just as the device wandered right off the rock. Luckily for Sonic, he had been correct in assuming it was specially designed not to tip over easily, and it simply fell upright into the calm water below, sinking slowly beneath the surface. It landed on the seabed with a small thud. 

"Right!" Sonic laughed, glancing round to see Eggman tightly grasping the wall, a terrified look on his face, "we're going to the other island first, okay?"

"Whatever," Robotnik replied coldly, wishing he'd brought some paper bags with him.

The machine steadied itself, and its large legs spread out into a rather creepy standing position over the soft ground. It was poised there for a moment, as if deciding something, before it finally burst into action. The limbs rolled forward in a sequence, scoring through the water with a powerful beauty. The movement of the submarine was a lot smoother than one would have expected, which came as a relief to Robotnik's queasy stomach. 

The machine moved slowly at first, but the speed soon expedited and the crab-like vehicle hurried through the deepening water elegantly. It continued at a surprising but unremarkable speed, until they were about halfway to the other island.

"Do you see something floating on the water over there?" Sonic said, pointing through the little window on the top of the contrivance. Robotnik sat up straight and glanced through the darkened glass. Something did appear to be bobbing on the water, but it didn't look like it was just drifting there aimlessly, it looked as if it were moving towards them.

"Raise the ship to water level," Robotnik commanded, "I want to see what it is."

"I was just about to say the same thing," Sonic said, pressing the appropriate button.

The legs of the machine went limp, and a small blast of air propelled it upwards. It gradually floating to the top, its loose members making it look disturbingly like a drowned creature. When it reached the top, it floated on the surface with the base of the door just about level to the water. Sonic clicked open the door and leaned out of it slightly.

"I can't quite make it out, but… " Sonic gasped in delight as a figure clearly stood up straight on the floating object "it's, it's Tails!" 

"Tails?" Robotnik exclaimed, "here? What's he floating on?" 

Sonic craned his head out a little further and squinted his eyes against the powerful sunlight. Whatever is was, it was shiny. 

Dr Robotnik pushed past Sonic rudely, and joined him by the door to see what Tails had been using as a boat. His dark glasses negated most of the glare from the bright reflections, so he managed to get a better idea of the shape than Sonic did.

"It could just be a bit of the _Eggs-Box_, but, well, it looks like, well," he started, Sonic turned around sharply, not used to seeing his nemesis so inarticulate. 

"It looks like Eggor," Robotnik finished, still staring at the machine.

Tails stood on Eggor's hunchback, shielding his eyes from the sun to see what had just emerged from the water. Since he had no desire to bring anything from the island with him, he had left as soon as he'd realised that Eggor could float. Using a large flat plank of wood as a makeshift oar, he had managed to row Eggor all this way from the island. However, it was tiring work.

"What _is_ that machine?" Tails asked Eggor, "do you suppose someone's come to rescue us?"

Eggor attempted to crane his head up and get a glimpse at what Tails was indicating. It was difficult, but he managed to see enough of the vehicle to be realise that it wasn't one of his Master's. His programming told him to feel rather anxious about this, as it was his first priority to make sure his Master was safe. He just didn't understand why none of Robotnik's rescue squads had come looking for them yet. They were usually only used to locate possibly damaged robots that could be repaired and used again, but if Dr Robotnik were to go missing it would be their mission to find him as soon as possible.

Unless, Eggor wondered, they had simply assumed Robotnik had perished in the destruction of the _Eggs-Box_. If that was he case, he dreaded to think what kind of chaotic state the base of operations was in, and whether Robotnik's industrial empire was suffering even with only a few days without its leader. He flinched slightly as water lapped up against his head when Tails leant forward to quietly whisper something to the buoyant robot.

"Whatever it is, I'm going to sail over and see if they'll help us."

Tails plunged the makeshift oar back into the water and began rowing them toward the silver submarine.

"Your idiot fox companion is using my state-of-the-art advanced robot as a raft!" Robotnik exclaimed angrily.

"Clever, huh?" Sonic commented, highly impressed with his sidekick's ingenuity. Using a hollowed-out robot shell as a floatation device! 

"_Clever?_ It's a complete JOKE! And why won't this stupid machine move when it's floating? That idiot designed this thing terribly!" Sonic leaned back over the chair and twisted around to look Robotnik in the eyes. Normally that remark would've angered him greatly, but he was too pleased to see Tails to let his mood worsen so easily.

"Don't talk about Kintobor that way," Sonic said icily, almost threateningly, "if it weren't for his machine, we might've died on that island. Besides, everything you know must've come from him, right?"

Robotnik ignored this, probably because he knew it was absolutely true. "Does that moronic fox realise how long Eggor took to design and develop? Now I'll have to build a new one! And that's a specialist robot, so I'll have to build it by hand…"

Just as Sonic was about to clout Robotnik with the unopened parcel, he heard a shout.

"Who is that?" Tails called, "could you help us please?"

His small body filled with an incredible excitement and happiness when he saw the familiar blue face poke out of the shiny door.

"I dunno," Sonic grinned, "we might be able to help you out, but only if you ask _very_ nicely!"

"SONIC!" Tails shouted delightedly, his high-pitched voice reverberating over the gentle waves, "I'm so glad you're okay! Hold on, let me just sail over!"

Tails gripped the large plank of wood and gave one last thrust, pushing himself close enough to the vehicle to leap in. Throwing his hands out happily, he flew right into Sonic and wrapped his arms around him in ecstatic relief. He glanced over at Robotnik and shot him an awkward smile before falling back against the vehicle's wall. Sonic leant over to close the door, but Tails's hand shot out and held it open before he got the chance.

"Wait! What about Eggor?" Tails exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, can't leave all that metal floating around in the sea," Sonic whistled, leaning out of the door. He couldn't see the --for all he knew-- non-functioning robot in the water, and briefly thought it must've sank to the bottom. However, it turned out Eggor was just clinging to the bottom of the door, and he rose alarmingly out of the water like some hunch-backed leviathan. 

"Master!" the robot barked loudly in a very peculiar voice, presumably the closest a robot got to expressing sheer relief. He knew he'd still have some delicate explaining to do later on when Eggman asked him why he let Tails live, but he had saved his beloved Master from being trapped alone with Sonic and Tails, and Robotnik would _have_ to give him credit for that.

"ARGH!" Sonic yelled in shock and stumbled backwards, falling over the chair. Robotnik's eyes lit up like a light bulb that'd just had a really clever idea itself.

"Eggor! You're here! Hahaha!" Robotnik laughed hysterically for the first time in days, and it felt _marvellous_. Sonic and Tails looked at each other in silent despair as the madman giggled uncontrollably.

"I'm going to have to cut this delightful reunion short, I'm afraid, " Sonic muttered, "the ship's about to submerge." Eggor threw the door shut behind him and squeezed into the back of the submarine beside his Creator. It was rather claustrophobic in the small machine with the four of them inside, but they managed to get sat down comfortably before Sonic pressed the bottom to lower the ship yet again. It sank to the bottom, and crawled along the ground towards land.

***

Nearly forty minutes later, the slightly tarnished but still impressively lustrous ship approached another beach, this time stretching out in front of an agreeable-looking area of commerce. It provided the perfect scenery for Tails to see at the moment-- industrial, but not spoiled. Sonic and Robotnik were not so impressed, but from what Tails had gathered they'd probably been through more mental strain than he had, even including attack of the Tigar robot. The entire journey back to land had been spent exchanging accounts of what had possibly happened on those twin islands many years ago, and why the Tigar was still there when it should have been taken off the planet altogether. In the end they agreed that the researcher who came to seize the machine had foolishly reactivated it before it had been transported, ignoring Kintobor's warnings. Presumably he fled when he saw what a monster it really was, as neither Tails nor Eggor saw any remains of a living creature on the island. Robotnik quietly added that it would've been easy for the agent to lie and say that Kintobor had destroyed his robot himself if the scientist had already quit the organisation.

Shortly after the mystery had been wrapped up, the vehicle had came across some uneven ground, and the movement of the machine had become altogether more jarring. It was snug enough in the tiny ship with the four of them crammed inside, and now they were falling over onto each other as the clumsy crab-like contraption shuffled over the rocks with all the grace of a tap-dancing whale.

Finally the machine had given up the battle to stay upright, toppled over, rolled down the rocks and landed upside-down on the beach. Everything was silent for a moment. Sonic was the first to speak.

"Right, first thing's first. Whose elbow is this in my stomach?"

Eggor made a curious mechanical grunt, and removed his metal joint from Sonic's abdomen.

"Ah, that's better. Ow. Second, whose is this stomach that's wrapped around _my _elbow?"

"That'll be mine," Robotnik hissed.

After Sonic had removed his arm from its secure incarceration inside Robotnik's bulging belly, he hopped out of the door of the sub and looked around.

"Before we find a 'phone to call for transport back to our respective homes, there's something we need to do." He looked at Robotnik and beamed gently.

Ms. Madeline Creek of 8U2 Marine Way sat by a modest-looking desk, rifling through several sheets of paper. She tapped a ballpoint pen against her temple rapidly, wondering what the heck she was going to do. Madeline was a short and rather scruffy badger, but there was nevertheless a greatly official nature to her appearance. Maddy owned an aquatic research facility whose base of operations was in the Tranquil Harbour Zone, and just as her expert biologists were about to embark on an important mission to explore the seas, there had been a severe delay with several vital deliveries. All she had now was a group of highly trained scientists sitting around doing nothing. Changing position to rap her pen on the table instead, she fretted about how far Federal Eggspress's insurance policy would stretch. Would they just pay for the value of the lost goods, or would they compensate for the lost hours of labour too? 

__

I knew _I shouldn't have used Robotnik's delivery service, _she thought grimly, _but I heard it would get the goods here quickly…_

Just as Madeline was running out of places to tap her writing instrument against, there was a knock at the door. Sighing, she went to answer it.

__

I bet those scientists are leaving, I don't blame them. 

The door rang again as Ms Creek thundered down the stairs.

"Hold on!" she snapped irritably, "I'm coming as fast as I can!" 

Flicking a sliding lock open, she pushed down on the handle and opened the door. "What do you wa--" Madeline's face froze as she encountered Sonic, the world famous hero of Mobius, standing next to a very bedraggled Dr Ivo Robotnik. Sonic was holding a large parcel, but Maddy was too eclipsed with shock to take any notice to that. 

"We're delivering this to you," Sonic announced proudly, "thank you very much… I don't want to go into it, but this package saved our lives."

The badger took the box in her hands without saying anything. A squeaky, indistinct 'thank you' managed to leave her petrified lips, and she began to slip the package open.

Sonic turned away to walk towards Tails. "Actually," he said, "I think we should go and get something to eat before we phone for transport. I don't know about you, but I've been eating nothing but Robotnik's dratted egg sandwiches for two days; I'm starving! I imagine we'd get some funny looks in a restaurant though, especially if Robotnik's coming. Hey Eggman, do you want to--"

Oddly, the deranged human was still stood before the doorway of the badger's house. Sonic guessed that he must've wanted to find out what was in the delivery. Hopping twice, Sonic revved his legs and sprinted over to where Eggman was standing, rooted to the spot. When he approached his former friend, he was reminded of the scene on the _Eggs-Box_ where Robotnik had first realised Sonic wasn't really dead: the expression on Ivo's face was the same now as it was then. Sheer, unrestrained horror. Maybe Sonic didn't want to see what had unnerved Robotnik this time, but he looked at Ms Creek anyway.

"Oh great!" she whistled happily, "my long-range distress flare and inflatable lifeboat kit arrived!"

---

The End.

Phew! If you could actually be bothered to read that lot, please leave a review or email me your comments. Thanks!


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